D. Lee, Part II

September 6th, 2008 at 10:50am Matt Trowbridge

There’s worse things than hitting ground balls with guys on base; I’m a Twins fan, and the Twins lost a one-run game the other day when they hit a leadoff triple and the next two guys struck out. Derrek Lee is going through an unlucky stretch this year, but he’s never hit into more than 18 double plays in a season before, and that was with Florida. His previous tops as a Cub was 15.

If Cubs fans hate double plays so much, maybe Chicago should trade the left side of its infield. Aramis Ramirez has hit into more double plays (81) than Derrek Lee (77) the last five years with the Cubs. And fan darling Ryan Theriot is also among the NL leaders, grounding into 16 double plays this year. So, in Theriot’sĀ second full year with the Cubs, he has hit into more double plays than Lee hit into in any of the seven previous seasons. And Theriot never hit 46 homers in a season (and never will).

By the way, it’s going to be tough for Lee to set a double-play record; he doesn’t even lead the league. Houston’s Miguel Tejada has grounded into 27. In fewer at-bats. Three others have at least 22, all in fewer at-bats, making Lee only the fifth most-likely NL player to ground into a double play this year.

I guess Wally and all you others who are so down on D Lee would have traded Cal Ripken if you were the GM of the Orioles in the 1980s. He holds the all-time record of grounding into 350 double plays. He passed some slouch named Hank Aaron, who had set that record before he ever set the homer run and RBI records.

Entry Filed under: Ryan Theriot, Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee